When I arrived in Japan and realized that arcades are still a huge part of everyday life I was very excited to check them out. What I saw there was not the arcades of my childhood but a futuristic gaming paradise. You could see the roots of arcade gaming but using today's technology. I was instantly hooked and spent altogether too much time/money checking out different arcades across Japan.

"Do I want to go home to my small apartment by myself after a 10 – 12 hour work day? No, I want to catch up with friends and relax. Oh, hey look, there's an arcade.

Arcade culture is social in nature and that is absolutely what drew me to it, the desire to compete against total strangers and in essence steal their money while simultaneously (hopefully) earning their respect… it's a dynamic that just doesn't exist in North America anymore.

If you've got a passion for arcades the way Crawford does, you may want to check out 100 Yen.